What is: How do I burn more calories when running on the Treadmill?

The answer is: To burn more calories on the treadmill I have discovered that I MUST run at least a 10:00 mile (6.0), if not faster. My goal now is to attain a steady pace of 6.0 and gradually work the numbers up. I could flip off the treadmill, but I'm going to give it a try!

Did some core exercises in the hopes that they will tone up all the flab I have around my middle. This is my anti-Humpty Dumpty Dressage Rider exercise.

Went to the eye doctor yesterday, and it confirmed my suspicions that I need a new prescription. What a great excuse to buy new frames. Hoping to go to COSTCO tomorrow to look at frames and price them out. They have to be cheaper than the optomitrist's office. My insurance only pays UP TO $60 for one frame only. COSTCO will be cheaper in the long, sadly to say. The frames I have now are from COSTCO, and they are quite nice, but it is time for a change. Oops! I think I've heard that phrase before.

Only a few more hours because the office is closing at 4:00 today; my plan is to leave a little early so I can catch the MARC 4:13 train, which is the only express train until 5:51.

We will probably watch the new series (last season's) "Rome" tonight. We have heard great things about it, so it better live up to our expectations.

It's Tuesday and the last AI competition night. Lee and Crystal are the final two, and it will be most interesting to see how the voting has gone tomorrow night. Dave vows to vote the entire two hours tonight to vote for Lee as he does not like Crystal.

I'm sure AI will do something for Simon as it is HIS last two nights on AI as a judge. The man is making millions of dollars to do this. Just a comment.

Forced myself to go to the gym.

Gym report:

10 minutes walking on TM

upright rows
tricep press
shoulder roll
dumbbell press
crunches with legs on bench at 45 degree angle
metronone
reverse crunches
superman
squats
inside thighs
outside thighs
waist twists holding 7.5 pound weights
plank
front thigh quad strengthener

I believe my muscles will let me know tomorrow they did not appreciate this workout today.

It's Monday..

Dave surprised me with a very nice Seiko watch as an anniversary present. It's a small face, the kind I like. Very nice.

Saturday we drove to Alexandria, and we kept seeing signs that warned us of road work beyond the Woodrow Wilson bridge and major delays. We didn't have much choice, so we kept driving. As we got closer, we saw signs for "local" to the right and took a chance on that. It's a good thing we did because as we drove off that ramp, we saw the major delay! We found a place to park, walked around, saw a farmers' market, walked around some more. We found a jeweler, who took some links out of the watchband, and now it fits better.

On the way back, we couldn't decide what to do for lunch, and we ended up going to Pasta Plus for panini sandwiches. They were good, but not great! We were so full from that dinner was Chinese soup with some beef/broccoli and some fried rice. Didn't eat too much of that.

Sunday was a bust for riding. We were going to to XC schooling, but with the rain and the ground being wet, we didn't go. So, I re-scheduled in what order I was going to do some things. We went to Joanne's so I could get some buttons for my blouse (which I finished, thank you very much) and I did buy some more fabric for a dress.

We went to COSTCO and Food Lion and spent a lot of money on food, laundry detergent, etc., but we will have a good supply of food for awhile now.

Oh, my Friday list:

Took Romeo for a 50-minute walk; worked on my blouse; ripped out the remaining stitches; did some knitting on my second half-glove. So, all in all, I did accomplish some things. I got a new wallet, too. Tired of using a rubber band to keep it together after the zipper broke. It was classy looking, that rubber band.

Sara's coming over for dinner - salmon, rice, and some side dish of vegs. Not sure what, yet. With a salad.

That's it. Exciting, eh?

Friday, For Me and Happy Anniversary to Me (and Dave), Too!

Thirty two years ago today, Dave and I tied the knot. Hard to imagine that that many years have gone by. As Dave pointed out, 11,680 glorious days of wedded bliss!

It's Friday for me, but it won't be fun tomorrow. I have to go back to the dentist to have the stitches taken out from my surgery. Fortunately, it won't take long, and will be painless. Other than that, I have the day free. What to do? What to do? Here is a list of possibilities:

1. go for along walk with Romeo,

2. start (that means actually going upstairs to my sewing room) sewing blouse,

3. knit second half-glove (which I started on the train because I am furious with my sweater - next item),

4. continue to rip out the 249 stitches (and the second color I had started to use) that got twisted on my sweater-in-the-round! or

5. nothing.

So many choices.

Waiting the day out, but it doesn't seem to be going very quickly at this point.

Saturday we will go into Alexandria, VA and walk around to celebrate our anniversary. Just hope the rain holds out, and we don't get soaked. Sunday, cross country lesson in preparation for the June 20 show at Waredaca.

Back to Work in the Rain

The only saving grace about today is that it's raining today and didn't rain over the weekend.

Dave and I went to the Turf Valley Resort to see the hot-air balloons ascend at 6:30 a.m. We woke up really early, drove to Turf Valley (only a few minutes away), and waited around for the balloonists to show up. While we were waiting, we were informed that the balloons would not go up because the winds in the higher altitudes were too fast. They usually fly with a maximumof 20 Knots, but the wind was up to 35 Knots AND the direction of the wind was into the City of Baltimore. Not where they wanted to end up. But, some of the balloons were blown up so we were able to see how big these balloons really are. More and more people showed up, and some had made reservations to take a ride, but no one could go up. A shame, but we did see something.

After that we went to the Double T Diner on Route 40, had a nice breakfast; then I went to get my hair cut and colored, then sushi lunch with Sara. By the time I got home, I was exhausted, but couldn't sleep. Not sure what I really did Saturday afternoon, but it went by quickly.

Sunday Sara and I went to our riding lesson. We went early so we could set up an eventing course in one of the empty fields. The guys (horses) weren't sure what we were doing, but all of a sudden we heard this pounding of hooves, with a sudden stop at the fence. They were all looking at us, and we could just hear the conversation going on with them. What are those two-legged things doing out there? Why are they dragging those poles behind them? What is that orange and white thing they have? What's going on? Needles to say, Satchmo was the only one out of that crowd who needed to worry. And worry he did. He tried to hide behind the others, but they weren't going to protect him. Sara found him anyway, and got him ready for the lesson.

Bella, on the other hand, was sooOOooo excited to get out of the paddock (and Smash) and into the field to jump. What she lacks in her physical condition, she more than makes up for in her great attitude! She had a ball out in the field and took me along as her student.

I slowly cut out my blouse pattern, slowly because I kept getting distracted by the TV, not that the shows were anything wonderful, but there ya go. Amzing how the mind gets sucked in by crap. Also wound two balls of yarn for a new knitting project. The excitement never ends at my house! Oh, and I did some wash! Stop, stop!

Dave attended a photo workshop, which was supposed to be a fashion workshop. He said it was a bit disappointing, but he did get some good photos of the models.

We had a late dinner of hamburgers and pasta salad, then we watched the Miss USA Pagent. Sheesh!

Still Looking Forward to the Weekend.....

Finally made it to Thursday, but I still have to come back tomorrow. I did have a dental appointment on Monday for the doctor to take the stitches out, but Dave is doing a photo shoot on Friday around 7:00, so I made the appointment for Friday instead since I have to take the whole day off, anyway. So, now, he can make it to the event on time.

Update: It's now, Friday. Just have to muddle through the day, and the weekend will be here! It can't come too soon.

5Ks I'm going to run (so far): July 11 - Howard County Striders' Women's Running Festival (the first 5K I ran, so I try to run it every year as my anniversary run); September 25 - Catonsville Fall Into Fitness (Sara is training to run the 10K!; I'll be at the finish line with a nice refreshing drink for her!)

Horse Shows: June 20 - Waredaca Starter Horse Trials; September 12 - Loch Moy Short Course. This is the Sunday before the Catonsville Run.

So far, this is all I have to say. We'll see what develops as they day progresses.

I do have something else to say: I finished the hand part of my half-glove. Need to work on the thumb, then I will start on the next half-glove. Even if I do say so myself, it looks quite nice. It's a bit large, so considering shrinking it a little bit. We'll see after I give them a test-wear.

Looking Forward to the Weekend

Once I get through this work week, I have some fun things to do on Saturday and Sunday. Oh, but first, on Friday, I'm going to lunch with my friend to Cafe Asia. Since I'm doing sushi on Saturday with Sara, I'll get something else to eat. This place has a nice variety of Asian-style foods, so it's not just limited to sushi.

Saturday a.m. get hair cut and colored; after Sara is done with her yoga class, we will go to Niko's for a sushi lunch. Dave and I might to to Turf Valley for the hot-air balloon festival going on. Apparently, that is part of the Preakness celebration for the race at Pimlico.

Sunday is a riding lesson; we will move jumps, etc. into the small field and do some xc training at Cathy's. Sara wants to get some jumps going with Satchmo so they can both get used to higher jumps and being in the field. I might be riding Galaxy; not sure about that, yet.

Yesterday I forgot my lunch - no wonder my bag was so light! I ended up having a parfait for a snack and then some egg salad (no bread) for lunch. Not great choices, but filling, nonetheless.

Today's schedule is more of the same - filing, filing, and more filing. If I don't file on any given day, there must be something wrong with the time continuum.

My yellow/coal gloves - really half gloves - are coming along nicely. I'm using alpaca, and it is a) the softest yarn I've used; and b) really, really easy to work with. I have about 10-15 rows to go before I do a few rows of ribbing, then bind off. No fingers on this! Not sure how to do the fingers, anyway. Something else to worry about at a later date. I've decided I don't like the wooden DPNs that I'm using, but even if I ordered a different kind of needle, I know the gauge would be off even if the size is the same. So, I will have to suffer through with the needles until the half gloves are done.

Once I've finished the gloves, I'm on to another project. I bought some really pretty grey and mauve yarn to make a pullover.

People's Preakness

Saturday was the 5K I had been looking forward to running simply because the course started on the Pimlico race track, then meandered through the neighboring houses. We got there early to pick up my number - at left, which was designed in the style of jocky silks. Not all the numbers had the same design, but it was a fun thing to add to the race.

After waiting around for what seemed forever, we were finally herded onto the race track for the start of the race. Not only did we run on the race track, we had the official bugler start us off.

He was dressed in tails, had a red vest on, and had the long, stretch version of a trumpet. I'm sure it has an official name, but I'm too lazy to find out......

After he did his bugling with the official and well-known tune that we hear at the start of every horse race, we were off! Let me tell you, that track is a lot bigger than it seems when you see horses racing around it. How fast does a horse run the track? Well, it took me about 10 minutes or so. Talk about coming in last place - at least if I were running with the horses!

After running through the neighborhood and wondering if I would even survive, I finally made it to the last tenth of a mile of the race. I didn't think I would ever cross that finish line, but I did! Go, me!

After the race I went post haste to pick up the really nice stadium blanket that every participant was to get. It's really soft and has the same logo that you see in the first photo. I'm always much happier when I'm finished running than when I'm actually running!

Sunday Sara I went out for our weekly lesson. Sara tried using a nice fleece padding under her saddle for Satchmo, and her analysis is that she feels the saddle seems to be more stable than without the fleece. Next week she'll try again, and see if she has the same evaluation. I rode Galaxy, Cathy's new horse. He is calm, very good mover, and has a really nice canter. If we could get Bella's trot and Galaxy's canter in the same horse, riding would be heaven. I don't think Galaxy still knows what's up with his new home because the minute he arrived here, we got two horrendous snow storms. He came from a very warm climate, and I'm sure didn't know what to make of all this white stuff.

After our lesson we went back to the house to get changed and go to Dave's parents' house for mother's day. Dave made quiche, I picked up some bagels, and we had coffee, orange juice, cream cheese for a brunch. By the time we ate, cleaned up and got out of there, it was 2:30, so not much left of the day.

I did manage to get myself upstairs and block one pair of mittens and blocked my sweater to straighten out the button band. Once it dries, I can sew the buttons on, ewave in all the ends, and sew up the sleeve seams. Then, it will be ready to wear.

I'll be riding Galaxy next week and do some jumping with him. We do have a show coming up in June, but I'm going to ride Bella, who just loves Waredaca. I'm hoping this time she doesn't dump me in the middle of the cross country course! I would like to finish....... Maybe I'll take Galaxy to another show. We'll see. Bella IS my show pony.

Back at work, waiting for it to be time to go home. What else is new?

Finally Friday

It's Friday, and even though I've been to work only three days this week, it doesn't make a bit of difference in how long the week really is. 3, 5, they all seem to be too long.

Tomorrow is the 5K at Pimlico Race Track. From what I understand, it will be a big race with loads of people. I sent Dave to the sports store to pick up my race packet today so we don't have to get up two hours before the race to get my stuff. The race doesn't start until 10:00; there is a parking lot for the race track. I figure once the race starts, I'll never get lost. I'm so slow there will always be somebody ahead of me to follow to the end.

Still going to take it easy and do elliptical today. Don't want to run on TM or outside, then find out I can't run tomorrow. Darn this getting old! Once one thing goes away, something else takes its place!

I'm working on my 5th pair of mittens, but I'm making them half mittens. I was looking at mitten patterns, trying to figure out where to stop the design, but it was next impossible to find a stopping place. Then I had an epiphany! I looked at the glove patterns, which have a definite stopping place for the top of the hand. This I will do; then to a few rows of ribbing, then bind off. No fingers to worry about. I'm not sure how to do the fingers on a glove, anyway. This precludes the problem and gives me a whole new realm of knitting gloves/mittens/half-mittens (gloves)

Best Quote:

Man #1: I'm making the world a better place.
Man #2: How?
Man #1: I'm not practicing law.

Gotta love it.

Post Tooth Extraction

Had a tooth pulled on Monday because it was fractured, and the dentist said there is nothing that can be done to repair it. Went in the morning, had general anesthesia; don't remember anything. Dave said he went to the grocery store on the way home, left me in the car; good thing I didn't decide to get up and walk around in my condition.

Got home, remember waking up about 1:00 with horrible stomach pains. Spent the entire day sleeping or in the bathroom. What fun. By 10:30 p.m., my stomach decided to calm down, but I stayed home on Tuesday, too, with an uneasy stomach, but not as bad.

I never had any pain from the extraction; only where the doctor used the needle does it hurt, and my face is still slightly swollen. Now, I have to decide what to do to replace the tooth.

Saturday is a 5K at the Pimlico Race track in preparation for the Preakness next Saturday. We get to run on the race track itself, as part of the 5K. It's for a good cause, the Susan G. Komen Cure for breast cancer. Then, after that, we go to Susie's house for dinner. Hope I can stay awake.

I've spent the better part of my days printing reams and reams of emails for one of my bosses. Talk about not going green! Well, I guess that's why I get paid; I do as I'm told. Ha!